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StatusFrustratio
@betamax Are you enjoying At the Mountains of Madness? The Dunwich Horror is my 'D' book, I'm looking forward to it, having read a bit of it last year.

Thoroughly enjoyed it, thanks.

He's very wordy, overly descriptive in places with what seems like trivial information, and he takes his time getting to the point but these are all great devices for building the tension and it worked well. It was good sci-fi-suspense stuff and i'm going to dig out the whole series on the Cthulu and plough through that, so yeah, i'd recommend it.

If you're really struggling for 'Y', and you don't mind bending the rules, i'd recommend 'The End of Mr Y' by Scarlett Thomas. It's a bit of a silly book, really, but it has love, sex, death, time travel and victorian magic potions in it, and that's what sold me!

And the black edged pages.

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betamax

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StatusFrustratio
@betamax Are you enjoying At the Mountains of Madness? The Dunwich Horror is my 'D' book, I'm looking forward to it, having read a bit of it last year.

Thoroughly enjoyed it, thanks.

He's very wordy, overly descriptive in places with what seems like trivial information, and he takes his time getting to the point but these are all great devices for building the tension and it worked well. It was good sci-fi-suspense stuff and i'm going to dig out the whole series on the Cthulu and plough through that, so yeah, i'd recommend it.[/url]
Brilliant, it sounds like I'd love it.

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betamax
If you're really struggling for 'Y', and you don't mind bending the rules, i'd recommend 'The End of Mr Y' by Scarlett Thomas. It's a bit of a silly book, really, but it has love, sex, death, time travel and victorian magic potions in it, and that's what sold me!

And the black edged pages.

Sounds interesting, I think she teaches at my friend's university... not quite the thing I'd normally pick but that I know someone it might be fun to read in tandem with.
Mmmm to the blackedged pages, though.

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midgoat

Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel.

Galileo's eldest daughter was a cloistered nun who corresponded with him during the time of his trial by the Vatican for his heretical theory that the earth revolved around the sun. 17th century conflicts between science and the religious and political forces of the time mirror our current fundamentalist-stoked political scene.

Revisiting Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals by Robert Pirsig. Almost twenty years on would like to see how I've changed.

I started reading Phillip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle a month or so ago, but I got caught up in school work and neglected to finish it so now I'm doing that. I read so much bad sci-fi and fantasy stuff when I was a kid that I'm always really hesitant to read any now, but I'm glad I picked this up it's great in every way so far.

On a Shakespeare kick right now. Just read King Lear, am reading Hamlet today. Sometimes I wonder why I bother reading anything else when I could just read Shakespeare every day for the rest of my life.

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a million faces at my feet & all I see are dark eyes

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BroomPerson
the new Pokemon game came out.

I'm avoiding Game on my way home from work on pay day with a week's wages in my pocket as I might just cave and buy a DS.
I've fond memories of going with my little brother and seeing the pre-release copy of Pokemon Sapphire playing the credits on a loop under glass in CeX and then promptly selling/trading in all the games we owned so we could spend £45 on the (out earlier) American version of it another shop had. We were 12 and 13 and had never spent more money on anything ever (and probably didn't for long afterward!).

Disregarding all nostalgic value, fond memories, etc, Pokemon White is probably the best Pokemon game I've played. And I've owned at least one from every generation. Some of the Pokemon just aren't as cool but the game is aesthetically amazing and the gameplay is fresh, exciting, fun, etc.
Sorry if I'm tempting you even more to get that DS...

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like a vision straight outta Holly Hobbie

upon somebody's recommend from here, i put cormac mccarthy's "sunset limited" on hold at the library. i picked it up yesterday, and i'm almost finished with it. it's short and easy to read. my kinda book.

very strange, but i think i've read this book. like a word on the tip of your tongue, this whole book is on the tip of my memory, like i read it in a dream, or a different dimension.

i've read his "the road" book and thought it was alright, nothing great, but not bad. this one though, i like it a lot. and i remember liking it. but for some reason, i've forgotten that i've read it before. or have i?

i wonder if i'll remember reading the ending before, when i get there this time.....

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you wrote it in another life

it does seem like something i'd have written.

seeing as i forgot all about it. pretty sure i have read this book before. it's so slight that it must have fallen between the cracks of my brain.

it's horrid where white asks black "are you serious?" and black says "serious like a heart attack." that's ass.

also, where black asks "is decline and fall as good a book as the bible?" and white says no. the answer is yes. decline and fall is as good a book as the bible. just because the bible's byline says "greatest book ever written" doesn't mean it's true. i've seen more boastful bylines in line at the supermarket.

black asking what white believes in is like phoebe asking holden what he likes a lot. neither one wants to answer because answering would mean that they believe in something, they like something a lot...and that would make them start thinking more about cliffs and sunset limiteds.

holden's epiphany coming from realizing he'd mistaken the "comin through the rye" poem is terrific. it's unfortunate that white couldn't have some sort of ephiphany. gives hope to all those people out there that think god/religion/church is bullshit and not worth examination.

AA has a 5% success rate, it's been said.

god is only 5% of its tenets, if i'm not mistaken.

and, that's all i got to say about that!

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mike5998
upon somebody's recommend from here, i put cormac mccarthy's "sunset limited" on hold at the library. i picked it up yesterday, and i'm almost finished with it. it's short and easy to read. my kinda book.

very strange, but i think i've read this book. like a word on the tip of your tongue, this whole book is on the tip of my memory, like i read it in a dream, or a different dimension.

i've read his "the road" book and thought it was alright, nothing great, but not bad. this one though, i like it a lot. and i remember liking it. but for some reason, i've forgotten that i've read it before. or have i?

i wonder if i'll remember reading the ending before, when i get there this time.....

thanks for recommendation, i will pick up sunset limited. read the road -- felt the same way about it.

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis

thank cronic! (and, thanks cronic!)

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cronic

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mike5998
New Lucinda.

[www.allmusic.com]

And also being dead. That should be interesting.

Mike5998 check out the audiobook "The Sunset Limited" by Cormac Mc Carthy.

A look at the after life or a lack there off.

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mike5998
read any good books lately?

Thought I'd bring this over here...

Just read "One Day" by David Nicholls - I had high hopes, but having finished the book a week ago I literally had to rack my brains for 5 minutes just to remember what it was I'd just read. It was an interesting concept I guess (the story of a couple who met at university told in chapters about the same one date over the course of 20 years) but I found myself not caring enough about any of the characters.

So now I've got a stack of 5 books by the bed waiting for me to choose between them. The current leader is "How I Escaped My Certain Fate: The Life and Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian" by Stewart Lee. Lee is a British comedian (just a few years older than myself) whose work I loved when I was a student in the early 90s, and who has returned to my interest in recent years. I guess he's best known outside the UK as the co-writer of "Jerry Springer: The Opera". The book's an interesting insight into the mechanics of his comedy with Lee commenting on transcripts of live shows. Might stick with this one for now.

The main competition to this is Jonathon Safran Foer's "Eating Animals" which the local library just obtained for me. I'm kind of wary about this one. I have to 'fess up here and say I'm a meat eater. No two ways about it. I get the feeling that this book is going to try and change my mind about this, but it won't succeed. What it might well do though is make me think about what I'm buying and where it's come from. I do love the two JSF novels "Everything is Illuminated" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" though so I'm trusting it'll be well written and handle the subject well.

There's a couple of 33 1/3s waiting to be read too - one about The Flying Burrito Brothers' "Gilded Palace Of Sin" and the other about "Exile on Main Street", both of which are albums that have flown beneath my radar but I'll no doubt give them a fair shot when I read the books.

There's something else there too but it slips my mind right now. I think those will keep me occupied for a while though.

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"You know it is, it really is."

interesting to read about the album first, then listen.

those are two great ones. i've heard them, but not read the books.

let's do the opposite. you do your thing and report back on the albums, and how they fared compared to the books.

i'll read the books and report back on how the books fared to the albums.

had any good ice cream lately?

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maffj
Thought I'd bring this over here...

Just read "One Day" by David Nicholls - I had high hopes, but having finished the book a week ago I literally had to rack my brains for 5 minutes just to remember what it was I'd just read. It was an interesting concept I guess (the story of a couple who met at university told in chapters about the same one date over the course of 20 years) but I found myself not caring enough about any of the characters.

So now I've got a stack of 5 books by the bed waiting for me to choose between them. The current leader is "How I Escaped My Certain Fate: The Life and Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian" by Stewart Lee. Lee is a British comedian (just a few years older than myself) whose work I loved when I was a student in the early 90s, and who has returned to my interest in recent years. I guess he's best known outside the UK as the co-writer of "Jerry Springer: The Opera". The book's an interesting insight into the mechanics of his comedy with Lee commenting on transcripts of live shows. Might stick with this one for now.

I feel the same about One Day. it starts well but I stopped caring very quickly. Some of my friends have been really affected by it but I don't see it myself.

That Stewart Lee book is marvellous but it's probably best to try and watch the three dvds that it is based on first. I saw him last week in Leeds, supported by Simon Munnery. They were both incredible. I also had the pleasure of seeing Simon Munnery last night on his own and I was almost crying at parts of it.

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I've been somewhat stumped over what to read lately, partly because it's hard to motivate myself to read for pleasure when I know I really should be reading sociology textbooks, partly because nothing I've picked up has been any good, so I've started reading some of the authors/literature John references.

Just finished: Shadow Over Innsmouth - HP Lovecraft (really liked this)
About to start either The Call of Cthulhu or The Mask of Fu Manchu.
Enjoying this far more than my usual reading of historical/political writings. Anyone have any other recommendations?

Anyone reading The Pale King at the moment? Got it today and read the first two chapters. Its so nice to read a DFW novel again, feels like seeing an old friend again. The only other book I've read of his is Infinite Jest and its prob top 5 books ever imo. guy was a genius and he knew it imo.

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[kidsteel.bandcamp.com]

Working through Infinite Jest, pretty awe inspiring.

Also just finished Bukowski's Burning In Water Drowning In Flame. Some of his best and worst work all piled up together nicely.

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O curas hominum! O quantum est in rebus inane!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2011 10:10PM by Gaius Verres.

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Kathaariancode

Enjoying this far more than my usual reading of historical/political writings. Anyone have any other recommendations?

If you want to read some Lovecraft in Brooklyn, get the short stories Cool Air and The Horror at Red Hook.

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O curas hominum! O quantum est in rebus inane!

Da Platform Sutra, know wat im sayin?

i'd read that, but i'm afraid it would make me annoying.


more annoying, rather!

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2011 02:04PM by mike5998.

just finished Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. I suspect tMGers may like it. I loved it. [www.goodreads.com]

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don't believe the hype | [www.last.fm] | [www.flickr.com]

Just finished reading For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway; tomorrow, will probably start reading Ulysses. Pretty stoked.

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a million faces at my feet & all I see are dark eyes

I just finished (after starting earlier this morning) Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man: A Memoir by Bill Clegg.

It wasn't terrible, but it left me feeling like there should have been more. Some kind of epic self realization or discovery. The short version of the book is that it tells the story of a two-month crack binge in which the author smokes away his literary agency partnership, his $70,000 bank account, 40 pounds, and most of his relationships. It reads well, and he's a talented writer, I just expected more. Maybe there isn't more, though, like the "why" of his crack addiction isn't important. Maybe there is no insight, no lesson to be learned. He did drugs until he stopped, and that's it.

trying to decide which david mitchell book to read.